Connect with us

Columns

ZULUM: Trending about an alleged N2 billion monthly feeding program for Boko Haram fighters in Borno

Published

on

ZuluZULUM: Trending about an alleged N2 billion monthly feeding program for Boko Haram fighters in Bornom gives N172 million cash, food to 30,436 residents

ZULUM: Trending about an alleged N2 billion monthly feeding program for Boko Haram fighters in Borno

By: James Bwala

The occasion for day of humanitarians and the actions that accompanied the day has passed. But not without the controversy surrounding the comments made by President Muhammadu Buhari during a courtesy call at the residence of the Shehu of Borno, His Eminence, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Al-Amin Elkanemi, which is currently trending on social media. For those who want to buy into such naughty claims made by troublemakers, it is perfectly acceptable to take home the facades of the fifteen billion naira purportedly already spent on Boko Haram’s surrender and the two billion monthly followers, questions about which they claimed the governor of Borno state, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, might need to respond.

Due to what I know to have actually occurred in terms of the prudential administration of the governor of Borno state in improving the capacity of the people he controlled, I am personally moved by such unimaginable assertions emerging on social media. The systems in place and his dedication to addressing insurgency-related concerns, particularly the meticulous efforts made to ensure the welfare of Boko Haram fighters (Surrendered) who had or presently overrun three camps in the state.

Also Read: Kashim Shettima: From the steps of the Senate to…

I don’t need much reminding about the address delivered by His Eminence, The Shehu of Borno. The summary of prayers focused on the resumption of government activities in the Lake Chad region, the construction of the road connecting Maiduguri with the local governments of Dikwa and Marte, oil exploration, and praise for Borno State Governor Professor Babagana Umara Zulum’s humanitarian efforts as well as the support shown to the state’s residents by former Governor and APC Vice Presidential Candidate Senator Kashim Shettima.

ZULUM: Trending about an alleged N2 billion monthly feeding program for Boko Haram fighters in Borno

The governor of Borno state made the decision to publicly acknowledge the President’s support for the earlier-mentioned figure in order to show his gratitude. This illustrates the impassioned display of transparency and the college of leadership style in Zulum. No one might have known or understood the level of support the Buhari administration provided to the Borno state government if he had remained silent.

Due to the quantity of fighters who are witnessing the governor’s worry and effort in restoring Borno state to its former glory, I recently followed the governor’s concern and plan to establish another camp. I had previously written on the governor’s cooperation with the Nigerian military in the northeast over the recent influx of seasoned combatants who are now en route to peace negotiations.

My point is that, even if two billion naira were released each month to support the efforts being made in the northeast, as those fortune tellers want to cry over, one can only imagine the weight of responsibility on the Borno state governor’s shoulders in managing such a massive situation with two billion in light of the current difficulties and economic situation in the nation.

I spoke with colleagues who covered the event and received audio and video clips of the visit in order to find out the truth about what President Muhammadu Buhari said or did not say regarding the support from the federal government. In his persona, the President avoided mentioning any figures; instead, the governor was speaking about the approval by Mr. President of the government’s budget for dealing with the issues in Borno and the Boko Haram fighters who are being housed in camps.

ZULUM: Trending about an alleged N2 billion monthly feeding program for Boko Haram fighters in Borno

I also discussed the trend with Senator Kashim Shettima’s former political advisor. Alhaji Yusuf Adamu shared his thoughts following a personal encounter he had as the chairman of the local government of Biu. He claims that because of what he reads in the newspapers, a closer relative once approached him about subvention concerns.

Also Read: Nigeria’s VP 2023: Kashim Shettima has come to stay

He emphasized that people frequently failed to reconcile realities from theory, whether out of malice or ignorance of the specifics of government operations. He claimed that by the time he requested his relative to deduct the wages of local government employees from the amount he saw on paper, his so-called kinsman was left snoring out his earlier assertions based on the images he brought.

ZULUM: Trending about an alleged N2 billion monthly feeding program for Boko Haram fighters in Borno

Adamu continued by saying that since it is election season, the opposition may not be aware that the governor of Borno state, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, attempts to restore the glory of the state that has been lost over the years due to terrible situations. He asserted that their arguments might be supported by the fact that the governor has accomplished a great deal, and that the only way to surpass those accomplishments is to cause trouble.

Although I agree with his beliefs, I can’t say if that’s how they think and feel when they make such outrageous assertions, I want to assume that this time they haven’t brought anything up for discussion. Instead, they have held their tongues while attempting to sell a bad egg on a well-known street. The reason for their claims is ineffective since they were unable to substantiate the allegations, and the presidency has backed up this claim by pointing out that Mr. President did not cite any numbers to support his statements regarding the support given to Borno state thus far.

ZULUM: Trending about an alleged N2 billion monthly feeding program for Boko Haram fighters in Borno

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Columns

Army University Biu: When Governor Zulum Visits President Tinubu

Published

on

ISWAP attack Army University kill 2 staff

Army University Biu: When Governor Zulum Visits President Tinubu

By: Dr. James BWALA

Those who smuggled the issue of the merger of the Nigerian Army University Biu and the Nigeria Defense Academy in the Steve Oronsaye report can now hide their faces in shame because their plans to deflate the education of the Borno children and indeed children of Nigeria through mischief have failed. 

Those who also blamed our leaders for the shared political landscape on the matter can now see the truth, as it is written with the visit to the Aso Rock villa by our governor to plead on behalf of the state to save it’s struggle on ensuring education for our tomorrow’s children.

In a society like ours, where people believed more on rumour and hearsay in prevailing circumstances, I felt ashamed when I looked at the level of education we all claimed to have vis-à-vis our attitudes, and I chose to stand with the understanding I constantly preached on happenings and leadership from the mirror as I viewed it. I thank God that despite certain interest in seeing people like me as paid pipers, the truth of what I always hang on has vindicated me on many occasions, just as this one.

Army University Biu: When Governor Zulum Visits President Tinubu

Borno is the home of Nigeria’s Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, and it is now very strategic for political conflicts, just as Lagos would stand various political misunderstandings for any move made by the Tinubu, Kashim Shettima administration. Therefore, when the issue of the Steve Oronsaye report came on and some characters began to shape in their nature to put leaders in a crossfire, I understood that for such earlier criticisms, it was all about the politics and its dragons.

Now, President Bola Tinubu has instructed the Borno State Government to submit a memorandum on plans to convert the Nigerian Army University, Biu, Borno State, into a regular university. The implementation of the Orosanye Report, which was recently adopted by the federal government, proposed that the Nigerian Army University be subsumed into the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) as a faculty.

READ ALSO:https://newsng.ng/umth-how-professor-ahidjos-transformation-agenda-impacted-the-information-unit/

But the Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, had argued against the plan right from when it was announced and made further moves to stop it on Friday by meeting with President Tinubu to suggest the exploration of other options. Speaking to journalists at the State House, Abuja, after meeting with President Tinubu, Governor Zulum revealed that the federal government was open to considering the alternative of converting the institution to a regular university under the Federal Ministry of Education.

Zulum said, “I saw Mr. President on the issue of Army University Biu, because recently, there was a communication from the presidency that some institutions would be merged according to the Oronsoye report. The government and people of Borno State have hailed this great initiative. It is a very good one. But, however, we have pleaded with Mr. President to reconsider the issue of the Army University merger with the Nigeria Defense Academy.

“Southern Borno State is a very important region, not only in Borno State but also in the entire country. There are a huge number of children that are willing to study, and they don’t have any federal universities in the zone. Once this army university is merged with NDA, we may encounter a huge number of out-of-school children as a result of the absence of a university in that part of the state. The most important thing is that the President has listened to me, and he has agreed to review the matter, inshallah,” he noted.

With the new information, I hope that the people who took it personally to think that no action is taken by the Borno state government since the announcement by the Steve Oronsaye report can convince themselves to many reports flying around on the visit to Mr. President by Professor Babagana Umara Zulum and the fruit of the meeting, and indeed, as he (Zulum) said, the institution serves a large population from Southern Borno whose chances of getting a tertiary education are in jeopardy.

James BWALA, PhD, writes from Abuja.

Army University Biu: When Governor Zulum Visits President Tinubu

Continue Reading

Columns

NAUB: Prayers of our enemies shall not come to pass.

Published

on

NAUB: Prayers of our enemies shall not come to pass.

By: Dr. James BWALA

When the bill for the establishment of the Nigerian Army University Biu was taken to the National Assembly, VP Kashim Shettima, then as Senator representing Borno Central in the red chamber, added his voice in support of the establishment. He was among the top voices who spoke to make the university come to light by giving the university the legal instrument that established it. The VP, then governor of Borno State, is the one who speedily granted the approval of the site and delivered the C of O of the site when General Buratai came up with the idea of the university. 

Certainly those who came up with the idea to merge the Army University Biu with the Nigerian Defense Academy did not consult widely before reaching the decision, and we are hopeful that the prayers of these enemies of Borno State, the northeast, and Nigeria will not come to pass. We are also confident and firmly believe in our unity and loyalty to our leaders that they will see the reasons for the existence of this great institution that has continued to give direction to our mass of youths who seek education through the university.

The President and his Vice President are men of integrity who love education, especially for the children of the masses. They are aware of the benefits these children of Nigeria are getting through the army university, blending character and learning in the most civil and regimented system. As our governor pleaded alongside many other Borno indigenes of note, we are praying for the president to give a listening ear to those pleas for the future of the children of Borno State, the northeast, and Nigeria.

READ ALSO:https://newsng.ng/borno-residents-raised-concern-over-plans-to-return-idps-after-iswap-attacked-governor-zulum-convoy-in-malam-fatori/

Those who are bent on the idea that the university must be merged are like those who did not want it to be established in Borno and in Biu in the first place. But they never care to learn why the Army University of Biu was established in the first place. The understanding of some Nigerians perhaps prior to the establishment of the Nigerian Army University Biu was either lopsided in their regional beliefs or in their political thinking or born out of outward envy to attempt to deny the people of northeast Nigeria the opportunity to have such an outstanding university that brought glory to the region and Nigeria as a whole. Today, not only the children of the northeast are the beneficiaries of the Nigerian Army University Biu, but largely students from the southwest and southeast, south-south, northwest, and north-central parts of the country.

I recalled having a chat with some of the staff of NAUB, sometimes in late 2022, where the discussion led to how the funding of the university was almost becoming an issue under the former COAS, the late General Ibrahim Attahiru. It was at that time that I also learned of certain plans by some forces working against NAUB for their political and regional interests, and I was not surprised when certain questions about the merger issues came up in the Steve Oronsaye report. The sighting of NAUB has been fought against, but Biu struggles. Thanks to the support given by sons and daughters of the northeast, who stood to defend the establishment of the army university in Biu,.

While the cracks were on about the Steve Oronsaye report, I went back to the argument on the floor of the National Assembly to revisit earlier arguments about the establishment of the Army University Biu. I took the case of Hon. Uzoma Nkem-Abont and Hon. Kingsley Chinda, both of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP. They kicked against the establishment of the university, seeing the institution as a ground for military training, with the NDA in focus throughout their argument on the floor of the green chambers. Comparing their argument with the explanations put forth as to why the Army University Biu was established, I realized that the two Hon. Members were not armed with the right information as to why the Army wanted such a university in place, in parallel to the NDA, which is a purely military institution for regimental purposes.

When the President’s Special Adviser on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala-Usman, announced the agencies to be merged to include the merger of the Army University Biu and the Nigerian Defence Academy, there was a lot of roar from the northeast part of the country, with thousands of people who are directly or indirectly beneficiaries of this establishment pouring out their reservations on the adoption of the Steve Oronsaye report by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly with the mention of the Army University Biu being one of the universities in the country that does not go on strike.

Some people who commented have this to say: We can’t afford to lose the NAUB; the effort and energy our leaders put into establishing it can never go in vain, Insha’Allah. Blame the defense ministers from the north-west; they’ve always been against NAUB. The greatest undoing of a democratic government is to clamp down, merge, or relegate a vibrant, important, and exceptionally good tertiary institution that is located in a disadvantageous state or state that needs education, a state that was ravaged by Boko Haram,… What happens to Admiralty University? Is it not a military university? Or is it a private holding of the Nigerian Navy devoid of FG funding? Why has it not been merged with the NDA? Any explanation to defy this? Answers to these would clarify premature assumptions on the need or otherwise for the merger. On a literal perspective, NDA, NAUB, and AFIT are funded by FG. Why NAUB? These are the questions trending. 

But the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, had last year, while speaking during the graduation of some 500 students, given an explanation of why the Army University Biu was established. He explained that the Nigerian Army University in Biu, Borno State, was established as a means to explore a non-kinetic approach to service operations against insurgency. He also said the institution was established to achieve social inclusion, gender balance, and expand diversity through education. The COAS, who is also the Pro-Chancellor of the institution, disclosed that by establishing the Nigerian Army University in Biu, the Army adopted the strategic option of exploring a non-kinetic approach to its counter-insurgency operations in Nigeria.

According to him, the Army sought to achieve social inclusion and gender balance and expand diversity through education, adding that the emergence and growth of the institution in the heart of the North East was a testament to the successes the Nigerian military has collectively achieved in its counter-insurgency efforts. I hope that the COAS, at this time of debate, will add his voice to the plea by Governor Babagana Umara Zulum and the highly respected leaders of Borno to press on the president to see the reasons in this matter and to know the hands of Jacob from those of Esau.

* James BWALA, PhD, writes from Abuja.

NAUB: Prayers of our enemies shall not come to pass.

Continue Reading

Columns

Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.

Published

on

Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.

By: Dr. James BWALA

The Steve Oronsaye report, which failed in its implementation during the Jonathan and Buhari administration, has fallen into the loudest criticisms by Nigerians, especially the people of Borno State, owing to its seemingly reversed posture on the education of thousands who needed to add knowledge through the university system, particularly children of Borno State who are battling with the issues of Boko Haram, to the effect that it almost crippled west education in the state.

Schools are not enough in place in Borno State to cater to the needs on the ground in the fight to dismantle the minds of hundreds of thousands that have been indoctrinated against western education. According to many citizens, the order for the implementation of the Steve Oronsaye report, which named the Army University in Biu town in southern Borno, has a number of political interests, to the effect that some people have been pointing fingers at some politicians in the state for smuggling the de-Army University Biu in the reports.

I have spoken to many people on the earliest day of the report, trying to discredit their minds on certain individuals they are raising their doubts about for possibly working against the progress of the people by probably supporting the government’s idea of merging the Army University Biu with the Nigerian Defence Academy, which, in my opinion, is wrong to have begun to look at the situation from that angle. I have talked with a number of lecturers at both the University of Maiduguri and the Army University Biu to feel their pulse on certain name-callings.

Someone did send a message to me that read, “Mallam: Why should the Nigerian Army University be included in the ongoing implementation of the Steve Oronsaye Report? The report was dated in 2012, while the Army University was established in 2018. So the university couldn’t have been featured in the report. I smell a rat.”

Well, I already heard some names, which I tried to defend fairly in the face of confrontations. Sometimes I feel people who see themselves on the disadvantage side owing to what they heard other people say about them are often eager to move to anger over issues they may not be clear with, especially the Steve Oronsaye report and the involvement of the Nigerian Army University Biu.

I was particularly happy when I saw the Borno state governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, pleading with the federal government over the calculation to merge the Army University with the NDA. He went point blank to state the importance of the Army University to Borno State, to the extent that he pleaded for the federal ministry of education to take over the university as one of the federal government universities if it most affected the Steve Oronsaye report.

The Borno state governor, as I often described him, would not mince words to state the facts. If there are undertones, as some people have already misinterpreted through the gates of misinformation as they have gathered in their underneath assumptions, the professor as I know him over the years would not have been on the pages of newspapers and on radio and TV standing with the people to give reasons for the federal government to rethink its position on the Army University Biu.

Those who are thinking that the rest of the Borno state may not be standing with the southern Borno in the mere allegations should know that the members of the representatives in both the green and red chambers at the National Assembly have come together under one umbrella to speak with one voice over the intentions of the federal government on the Army University Biu as intended, pinning to the Steve Oronsaye report.

I believe that they have gone a long way to advise the government on the needs that must be met to allow the Army University Biu to stand on its own. The Army University Biu must be allowed to function, not as a department or otherwise, and way apart from the regimented NDA. It is to benefit the civilians, who are also tax payers, that makes the country thicker in blending civility and regimented lives. 

The Borno state governor’s voice, added to the many voices, has rekindled hope in this renewed hope mantra of the Tinubu Administration, and I hope that we can give space to understand certain situations before we speak of them, and not to add negative thoughts to innocent claims. Borno is home to us, and we must stand with our leaders. The Army University Biu never wanted to be sited in Biu in the first place, and these forces are not from Borno State.

James BWALA, PhD, writes from Abuja. 

Army University Biu: There is certain interest, but certainly not from Borno.

Continue Reading

Trending

Verified by MonsterInsights